Current minimally invasive procedures for diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions use elongate instruments, such as catheters or more rigid arms or shafts, to approach and address various tissue structures within the body. For many reasons, it is highly valuable to be able to determine the 3-dimensional spatial positions and/or orientations of various portions of such elongate instruments relative to other structures, such as pertinent tissue structures, other instruments, particular reference points, the operating table, etc. Conventional technologies such as electromagnetic position sensors, available from providers such as the Biosense Webster division of Johnson & Johnson, Inc., may be utilized to measure 3-dimensional spatial positions. However, conventional technology has limited utility for elongate medical instrument applications due to hardware geometric constraints, electromagnetivity issues, etc.
Accordingly, there is a need for an alternative technology to facilitate the execution of minimally-invasive interventional or diagnostic procedures while monitoring 3-dimensional spatial positions and/or orientations of elongate instruments.